Ethereum’s Total Locked Value (TVL) could grow tenfold by 2026 as adoption expands to multiple use cases and institutional investors, according to Sharplink Co-CEO Joseph Chalom.
Sharplink Gaming is the second largest public Ethereum vault company, holding 797,704 ETH (ETH), worth approximately $2.33 billion at press time, according to to Ethereum Treasuries data.
“Stablecoin market to hit $500 billion by end of next year,” Chalom predicted in X’s announcement on Friday, as the stablecoin’s current total market capitalization sits to about 308.46 billion dollars. Moving to $500 billion would represent an increase of about 62%.
Since more than half of all stablecoin activity (54%) takes place on Ethereum, such an increase could potentially contribute to an increase in the network’s TVL.
Tokenized RWA Market to Reach $300 Billion in 2026: Chalom
Chalom also expects tokenized real-world assets (RWA) to see significant growth, predicting the market will reach $300 billion in 2026. “Tokenized assets will increase 10x in AUM in 2026, moving from tokenization of individual funds, stocks and bonds to complete funds,” Chalom said.
He pointed to growing interest from financial services firms over the past year, including JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton and BlackRock, as a major catalyst.
An increase in TVL is often seen as a sign of growing interest in the network, which can boost market sentiment and potentially impact asset prices. At the time of publication, Ethereum’s TVL is approximately $68.20 billion, according to according to DeFiLlama.
However, crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen said on Tuesday that Ether is unlikely to reach new highs in the coming year, given Bitcoin’s current conditions. At press time, Ether is trading at $2,924, down 3.12% over the past 30 days, according to on CoinMarketCap.
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Chalom predicts that Ethereum holdings and tokenization activity by sovereign wealth funds will grow five to tenfold over the next year.
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“In 2026, this will intensify significantly as competitive dynamics gather momentum. When no one was willing to touch crypto from this pool of allocators, it was safe to stay on the sidelines,” Chalom said.
Chalom also predicted that onchain AI agents and prediction markets will “go mainstream,” which he said will drive more activity and value for the ecosystem.
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